London MCM Expo Weekend Roundup

If you were around the Docklands area over the weekend then you may have seen a few strange characters milling about the place. Some may have even been familiar to you: Darth Vader, Captain Jack Sparrow and a Mad Hatter or two.

That’s because it was the weekend of the MCM Expo – Movies, Comics and Media. Filled with a record breaking 41, 000 people, the ExCel centre played host to the best in all things geek including gaming demonstrations, panels of TV stars and thousands of fans in brilliant home made costumes.

In amongst all the hardcore fans, my trusty sidekick John and I made the rounds, taking photos and chatting to the stars. We ran into a few familiar faces – Captain Jack and the Joker were kind enough to pose for us and made us dream of the fantasic crossover movie they’d make together.

Attending the expo were John Noble and Jasika Nicole who were there pimping out the latest season of Fringe.

It was Jasika’s first time in Europe, let alone London, and she and Noble thanked everyone for being so nice and hopspitable. Awww.

Our favourite panel has to be Stargate Universe with David Deluise, Alaina Huffman and Jamil Walker Smith. The cast kept things light with some amusing banter with a member of the crowd who was dressed as a Na’vi from Avatar.

Alaina commented on the fan’s response to the show, noting that some people were angry about the transition from Stargate Atlantis to SGU.
‘It’s the same guys who made the show for 15 years that you absolutely loved, so i don’t personally understand where the trust went…

I think we’ve been definitely in the position of defense for the last year or so but that being said, a lot of people like the show and I’m thankful for that. And I’m thankful that people gave it a chance and season 2 rocks so check it out.’

Next on our to-do list was to visit the panel for Merlin where stars Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Angel Coulby were chatting about their favourite episodes and we were treated to some footage from the next season – it looks real good folks, stay tuned.

From the hit sequel to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica creator Ron D. Moore and star Esai Morales sat down to discuss the show. When asked about another possible spin-off from Battlestar , Ron had an interesting response.

‘It’s sort of true in that there are discussions going on with Universal about us doing another project in the Battlestar Universe but there’s really nothing definitive yet. There are several options that are on the table.’

Ron made it clear that nothing had been approved but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. On a side note, Esai revealed that he’s about to become a father for the first time.

When we saw that next on our schedule was the panel for new BBC show Pulse, we dropped our overpriced sandwiches and raced over to the main stage to hear the cast and creative team dishing the dirt on the new hospital horror show.

Stars of Pulse: Arsher Ali, Emily Beecham and Gregg Chillin

After seeing some footage from the show, I asked the executive producer Simon Heath and writer Paul Cornell what their inspirations were for the look of the show.

Simon said, ‘I think Coma….visually there are homages to Coma…There’s a shot where the camera, where you the character in a very shallow profile where we’re seeing, but not quite seeing what they are. A lot of 70s conspiracy movies- they all have that slightly edgy hand-held feel.

It was very important that we didn’t look like a simple, cosy medical drama. Generally, medical dramas are there to reassure that hospitals are good places where people make us better and we wanted to say ‘They’re not’.

Andrew Stone and guitarist Mickey Cowdroy from Starman

For the musical entertainment, the management went for an interesting choice in Starman. You may know Starman AKA Andrew Stone and his band from SkyOne’s Pineapple Dance Studio.

Although our reviewer didn’t think much of Andrew in the show, in person he was really friendly and and sweating buckets after performing his heart out on stage.

The MCM Expo was exhausting but a lot of fun, so you can definitely expect to see us there next year. You can also check out more pictures from the weekend on our official OntheBox Facebook page.